Cleethorpes: Fifteen post offices face axe

Government plans to shut 15 post offices in the Grimsby area have been leaked prior to today's official announcement - reports the Grimsby Telegraph.

The secret list of proposed closures contains two branches in central Grimsby, as well as more in Louth and other rural areas.

The move is part of a national plan which will see about 2,500 post offices across the UK close by 2009 due to cutbacks in subsidies for loss-making offices from central government.

In all, 12 in the Grimsby area may shut completely and three would operate with drastically reduced hours.

Those proposed for closure are: Lambert Road, Grimsby; Humberstone Road, Grimsby ; Haborough; Newmarket, Louth; Brackenborough Road, Louth; Chapel Lane, Ashby-cum-Fenby; Brocklesby; Grimoldby; Fleetgate, Barton; Golf Road, Mablethorpe; West Rasen; South Somercotes.

Branches in Maltby-le-Marsh, North Kelsey and Tealby would continue to operate through an outreach service for 8 hours, 13 hours and 2 hours a week respectively.

The proposals will go out to public consultation over the next six weeks.

For people like 81-year-old Margaret Franklin, whose local branch in Newmarket is one of 15 the Government plans to shut down, the announcement is bad news.

She said: "I use this branch to check my pension, pay bills and post letters. It provides a vital service.

"There are usually great long queues here. A lot of people use it.

"I shall be very, very annoyed. It's a long walk to another post office."

Reacting to the news, Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell urged affected residents to make their views known in the consultation.

He said: "This process of closing our post offices needs to be resisted because post offices are a very important local service.

"Residents in Grimsby should get involved in the consultation process.

"It is essential that their views are heard, as I believe this is an undesirable tactic."

Martin Vickers, the Conservative Party's parliamentary candidate for Cleethorpes, said: "It's a dramatic reduction on what is a vital public service for market towns and rural communities brought about, to a great extent, by the Government policy of removing services, such as the ability to buy a TV licence from local post offices.

"I think the Government has already made its mind up, but having said that we must fight this every step of the way."

Cleethorpes MP Shona McIsaac needs to explain why she thinks it's more important to reward the wasteful and audit-failing European Union with a massive extra £7 billion by approving the EU budget deal, while post offices in her constituency are closing due to the inability of central government to afford sufficient subsidies.

Such blatant irresponsibility with scarce public funds is not something that local voters are likely to take very kindly to, come the next election.

Hospices warn of cash shortfall

Hospice managers in Hull and Grimsby have warned services could be cut amid a shortfall in government cash, according to the BBC.

Dove House Hospice in Hull is facing a deficit of £400,000 and says it has seen its money cut in real terms.

Finance director Chris Sadler said: "That is not something we could sustain indefinitely. The only way we can really save costs is to shut beds."

Bosses at Grimsby's St Andrew's Hospice said it may have to cut services as it forecasts a £100,000 deficit this year.

Two thirds of the hospices in England are run by the voluntary sector, providing support to the NHS.

St Andrew's Hospice fundraising and marketing manager Jane Whenham-White said: "The government told us two years ago that end-of-life care was its top priority and it had a strategy to meet that need.

"But they haven't yet come up with any funding.

"Because we actually haven't got a guaranteed income it is very, very difficult for us to plan our services.

"The only way to cut costs is to lay staff off, close beds or drop services.

"We don't want to do that, but we may have to if the funds are not available."

She said the hospice was relying more and more heavily on income generated by its shops and a lottery scheme.

"The worst thing is that because of the geographic area we cover we have been told we should have 16 adult beds here and we've only got eight.

"That means at a time when we should be doubling the number of beds we're actually facing the real prospect of having to cut back."

Cleethorpes: Public meeting over ward closure

People are being given the chance to hear discussions over the planned closure of a hospital ward for elderly patients in North East Lincolnshire - reports the BBC.

Officials at the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby plan to close the C4 ward by 1 October.

They say the reason for the move is a drop in the need for beds.

Staff, the public and unions have raised concerns. A public meeting will be held at Grimsby Town Hall at 1630 BST on Wednesday.

When the closure plan was announced last month, nurse Paul Watson-Rigg told the BBC it had had a "very negative and demoralising effect on the staff".

The meeting has been organised by North East Lincolnshire Council's older people scrutiny panel.

Andrew North, chief executive of the trust which runs the hospital, will be there to talk about the proposed closure.

Cleethorpes: Parents to fight school closures

Parents in North East Lincolnshire are preparing to fight plans to close primary schools in the region - reports the BBC.

Councillors say up to five schools must close to reduce 3,500 surplus places - a figure which could rise to 4,500 by 2009 unless action is taken.

Elliston and Bursar in Cleethorpes, and Littlecoates in Grimsby, are earmarked for closure.

Eastfield and Ravendale in Immingham are also under threat.

Parents of Bursar pupils are planning a protest at Grimsby Town Hall on Monday.

In addition to the closures, other schools in the region could be merged under the plans, which will be discussed by the council cabinet on Monday.

Although there will be a public consultation, parents are angry by the timing of the announcement.

Father-of-three Mark Baxter, who has two children at Bursar, told BBC News: "They have just gone ahead with this and dropped it on us.

"We want to make them aware that we plan to highlight the fact we don't want this school to close and that we are going to fight it."

Meanwhile, parents with children at Elliston Infants School are also meeting to form an action group.